My Creative Workbook

Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman

Picked up some proper Pruning

Go slow! Time it right and cut so that a healthy callus forms to protect the tree and help it heal properly.

Picked up some proper Pruning floral art design by Christine de Beer

First we trim away those low on the trunk suckers- they never become branches and are only there to steal energy.

Display freshly pruned blossom twigs in a Spring floral design

Then it’s away with those dead and dying branches to see what we are really working with.

Using the tiny twigs you prune away from blossom trees in a flower arrangement

Gone with the unwanted or hazardous branches to raise the canopy.

Lime green spring center piece design

Next snip away the damaged or weak branches (to cancel all invitations to pests and disasters) - inspect them to find the ones that put in an effort to become a healthy kind of interesting… those become character filled design treasures for the design room.

Zero waste sustainable floral design ideas

And finally we trim out overlapping branches that rub together. Cut both if they are damaged or else just the damaged branch or the one that came to rub away the peace (smallest one)

Craft with nature using natural elements

… and come proper Spring you and your snippy shears have encouraged flowers… and soon fruit, triggered new growth and snipped away disease by improving the airflow. An all round prettier tree.

Bring a bit of green into your home to celebrate Spring

Yay you!

Every week I add a new design with related tutorials. Be sure to subscribe to receive an email notification with design inspiration.

Tutorials

24 February 2021 Sink a carnation composite flower flat top platform into a vase

The trick of this Tutorial is to create a flat top platform to display Spring blossom twigs- the way it would look on moss in a forest.

6 September 2011 Autumn leaf Composite Flower

Glue a round Autumn leaf Composite Flower.

15 February 2012 Gladiolus Composite

This looks spectacular but it is the easiest composite flower to make

6 September 2011 Autumn leaf Roses

I used to make baskets full of these when I was a little girl. We had a big Acasia thorn tree and I used to spear my “roses” onto the tree pretending I was the fairy responsible...

11 November 2012 Autumn Leaf Rosette

Great way to use all the autumn leaves you collect on walks during the season. Slowly build up the leaf rosette and let the leaves dry before adding a few more.

8 July 2015 Using a pin to place tiny dew drop crystals

It's sometimes difficult to place a tiny crystal or bead exactly where you want it.

30 August 2011 Removing Oasis Floral Adhesive glue spills

The finish of every design should be flawless. Make sure there are no bits of glue visible in your design by carefully removing all traces of spills.

10 July 2013 Where to cut Carnations or Pinks to condition

Cutting carnations to condition

20 November 2012 Green Trick Floral Wings

Glue gypsophila sticks, green trick carnations, Star of Bethlehem, passion fruit tendrils, jasmine foliage and string of pearls succulents to create floral wings

Favourite Flowers

Dianthus

Pink, Carnation, Clove Pink, Chinese Pink

Related Designs

19 May 2021 In the little gap

Use the petals of your flower to cleverly keep all the other floral details of your design firmly in place.

25 January 2023 Even More

This orchid developed at the very end of a long stem... right as the rest of the flowers started to die back so I made a special armature to display the cut stem.

21 February 2024 I'll Go First

My Spring/Easter design and the introduction article about my floral journey written by the editor, Nina Tucknott in the latest issue of Flora Magazine.

4 September 2024 A shade around there, probably… maybe

A dried flower and foliage... flower... disk to help me pretend it is autumn

5 January 2011 Protea Composite

To create this huge Protea I took apart nine Protea flower heads and glued the tepals and bracts back on to a polystyrene ball to create a large Protea composite flower that is...

6 September 2011 When Autumn Fall

Autumn leaf composite flower

11 November 2012 Leaves by Hundreds came

A rosette of fall leaves to celebrate the beauty of autumn

7 August 2019 Point Out: this is a single bunch of gladiolus!

Cut stems of Gladiolus to place in a radiating summer design.

10 July 2013 Pink

Weave an invisible grid to float the plant material on

20 November 2012 there’s a feeling

Glue snippets of dried green stems and Green Trick Carnation to make tiny floral wings for Christmas

2 April 2014 Apricity

Turning a stand-by floral technique sticky side out

7 June 2017 Dream, Job

Create a grid to rest some plant material so that it floats and some with their stems to rest in the water below